Update is not transparent enough

[karai17]

When I update Atom, what happens is the Update option turns into an "Updating" message and stays like that indefinitely. I have no way of knowing if the update is actually working, if it is done, or anything else of the sort. It is not until I close and restart Atom that it tells me I am using a new version.

A significant improvement to this would be to do one of the following:

1. Emulate how GitHub for Windows works--silently download the update and prompt the user to install it at their convenience

2. Keep the manual update process but give more information during the process such as % downloaded, % installed, prompt to reopen when done (if necessary), etc.

3. Include Atom updates within the package/theme update system so that you are automatically notified of an update and are provided some GUI information

My vote would probably go with option 1. It's automated and non-intrusive.

[mark-hahn]

If the update is being done with squirrel then you are pretty much out of
luck. Squirrel refuses to do anything like give progress reports. They
say to just make the load instantaneous (LOL). I posted an issue
for squirrel.

On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 2:26 PM, Landon Manning notifications@github.com
wrote:

When I update Atom, what happens is the Update option turns into an
"Updating" message and stays like that indefinitely. I have no way of
knowing if the update is actually working, if it is done, or anything else
of the sort. It is not until I close and restart Atom that it tells me I am
using a new version.

A significant improvement to this would be to do one of the following:

1. Emulate how GitHub for Windows works--silently download the update and
   prompt the user to install it at their convenience

2. Keep the manual update process but give more information during the
   process such as % downloaded, % installed, prompt to reopen when done (if
   necessary), etc.

3. Include Atom updates within the package/theme update system so that you
   are automatically notified of an update and are provided some GUI
   information

My vote would probably go with option 1. It's automated and non-intrusive.

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#5554.

[karai17]

Well then it sounds like squirrel is a pile of expletive and should be thrown out for a competent solution. Giving users information is the most basic thing you can do. Installing Atom from scratch is annoying because it just shows an animated splash image and tells me to trust that it's actually working instead of showing me something simple like a progress bar. The progress bar doesn't even have to be very accurate, something as simple as FILES_PROCESSED / TOTAL_FILES * 100 would be enough to show that things are moving along and gives you a reasonable estimate of time.

[mark-hahn]

it just shows an animated splash image and tells me to trust that it's
actually working

That is all squirrel. I assume it's to late to ditch squirrel and use a
real installer. I also assume there are some internal features of squirrel
that attracted the core developers.

On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 2:37 PM, Landon Manning notifications@github.com
wrote:

Well then it sounds like squirrel is a pile of expletive and should be
thrown out for a competent solution. Giving users information is the most
basic thing you can do. Installing Atom from scratch is annoying because it
just shows an animated splash image and tells me to trust that it's
actually working instead of showing me something simple like a progress
bar. The progress bar doesn't even have to be very accurate, something as
simple as FILES_PROCESSED / TOTAL_FILES * 100 would be enough to show
that things are moving along and gives you a reasonable estimate of time.

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#5554 (comment).

[karai17]

It's never too late, it just may take some serious overhauls which, in my opinion, are necessary. GitHub for Windows has a fantastic update setup and I am very surprised there is this sort of fragmentation within GitHub's own software.

[winstliu]

This was discussed before in Squirrel/Squirrel.Windows#137 which got closed with none of the suggestions implemented (with the reason being, as @mark-hahn noted, that adding said suggestions would "inform the user just how much we suck" and the proper way to go forward was to make Atom install faster).

Also, I believe Atom is doing 1) right now. It silently downloads the update in the background and automatically applies it when all Atom processes get closed (or when the Restart and Update button is clicked).

I remember from somewhere that the Squirrel team viewed the framework GfW uses to update (ClickOnce) incredibly buggy and that Squirrel.Windows was intended as a replacement for it.

[anaisbetts]

Whoa whoa whoa, I think we're conflating two things - most of this thread is talking about the initial install, but the initial question was about updates.

Squirrel on Windows does provide progress for updates (in the form of percentages written to stdout), but Atom doesn't do anything with this value currently. It certainly could though.

Emulate how GitHub for Windows works--silently download the update and prompt the user to install it at their convenience

This isn't how GitHub for Windows works, the update will be installed regardless of whether you choose to install it the next time the app starts. In reality, the only thing that "Install update" button in GH4W is restart the app.

GitHub for Windows has a fantastic update setup and I am very surprised there is this sort of fragmentation within GitHub's own software.

Spoiler alert: I wrote both Atom for Windows's installer, and the logic / UI interaction for updates in GitHub for Windows.

[karai17]

There should be no particular difference between initial install and updates, I should be given progress data for both.

If Squirrel supports this data and Atom does not utilize it, then my issue still stands in that Atom needs to be more transparent.

On the other hand, I feel that silent updates are great. GitHub for Windows and Chrome both silently update and give you prompt to finalize the install, which is great for keeping up to date without forcing the user to stop what they are doing (cough, Windows Update, cough). I am totally okay with that functionality as it only makes the process faster for the user.

I am even more confused now that I know the same person wrote both systems that seem to act quite differently.

[mehcode]

This isn't how GitHub for Windows works, the update will be installed regardless of whether you choose to install it the next time the app starts. In reality, the only thing that "Install update" button in GH4W is restart the app.

Why aren't we doing this sort of auto update-in-the-background workflow for atom? Just a "will be done later" thing?

[anaisbetts]

Why aren't we doing this sort of auto update-in-the-background workflow for atom? Just a "will be done later" thing?

This is exactly what Atom does on both Mac and Windows

[winstliu]

Atom does have background updates just like Github for Windows.
Fake edit: Beaten by Paul ;P.

[karai17]

I have a hard time believing that. Atom never seems to update unless I manually trigger it, and when I do so it never seems to do anything except consume a whole bunch of CPU. It just sits there and says "Updating" indefinitely without any sort of notification that it is done and needs to be restarted.

[mark-hahn]

It just sits there and says "Updating"

I started using the command line a long time ago because of this kind of
annoyance. It is a much better experience.

On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 3:23 PM, Landon Manning notifications@github.com
wrote:

I have a hard time believing that. Atom never seems to update unless I
manually trigger it, and when I do so it never seems to do anything except
consume a whole bunch of CPU. It just sits there and says "Updating"
indefinitely without any sort of notification that it is done and needs to
be restarted.

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#5554 (comment).

[Zireael07]

Regarding install, I would like to see the progress data shown in some way.

Regarding updates, clicking update tells me 0.182 is the latest one, which is not true as of an hour ago.

[mark-hahn]

clicking update tells me 0.182 is the latest one

The delay can be up to a day or two.

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 11:36 AM, Zireael07 notifications@github.com
wrote:

Regarding install, I would like to see the progress data shown in some way.

Regarding updates, clicking update tells me 0.182 is the latest one, which
is not true as of an hour ago.

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#5554 (comment).

[rogeriotaques]

+1

Same for installing or updating packages and themes.

Whenever you need to update an existing package or theme, or wanna install a new package or theme, Atom just changes the "install"/"update" button background with an animated gif, but doesn't makes clear how long the process will take or how much was completed ...